Cuts could come within 3 years

By Terry Camp

Mid Michigan — (11/05/04)--Michigan’s largest telephone company has announced job cuts and workers fear more. SBC Communications says it will cut as many as 1,000 state jobs within three years.

Some of those job losses will happen in Saginaw.

Terry Camp had more.

SBC blames the state’s negative business climate for the job cuts. And local workers fear it’s not going to get better soon, meaning more jobs will be lost.

Mary Palomarez is an operator with SBC. She says workers in Saginaw have feared cuts for sometime now.

«It’s hard with all the competition,» she said. «Everyone can go into long-distance service and local service. We finally got into long distance and then the cellular, that’s hurting us.»

«Here in Saginaw we’re talking 23 or 24 jobs and it won’t be until 2006,» said Billy Martin, an SBC worker and president of the local communications union.

The two dozen jobs will be lost when an office in the downtown Saginaw location is closed. No jobs will be lost at the Bay Road office.

Combined, the two sites have more than 1,000 workers. Martin says the announcement of the jobs cuts caught him off guard, but he is not surprised it’s happening.

«The fact is we need a fair business climate in the state of Michigan, but currently we don’t have that opportunity here,» he said.

Martin and SBC have complained to state regulators that the company isn’t being fairly compensated for allowing competitors to use SBC’s landlines for phone use.

Martin says SBC offices in other states have added jobs while the trend of losing jobs in Michigan could continue.

«Unfortunately I cannot predict the future, and the future could be very bleak for the rest of the people who work in this area,» he said.

A member of the Michigan Public Service Commission denies SBC claims that the state’s regulatory climate is forcing the job cuts. While only about two dozen jobs will be lost in Saginaw, several hundred will be cut in the Detroit area.

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